PE (Physical Education)

All students at Rutherglen Primary School participate in a one hour PE (Physical Education) session per week, with our Year 5-6 students also partaking in one hour of Sport per week. Apart from the benefits of having happy, physically and mentally healthy and active students, there are also the opportunities for our students to develop resilience, team work skills and achieve personal goals.

Our PE classes and sport sessions led by our dedicated Health and PE specialist and supported by classroom teachers are designed to be fun, build students’ confidence and help them to recognise the value of being a team player, as well as understanding the importance of good sportsmanship.

The PE program begins in Foundation with the Perceptual Motor Program (P.M.P), a movement-based program which helps younger students improve their eye/hand and eye/foot coordination, fitness, balance, locomotion and eye-tracking skills. Based in our Big Red Shed, the program uses a variety of equipment and focuses on engaging the students in intensive activities for short periods before students rotate to the next activity.

In Years 1 and 2 students build on and refine these fundamental movement skills in different movement situations in indoor, outdoor and aquatic settings. Students also further develop their knowledge, understanding and skills in relation to movement by exploring simple rule systems and safe use of equipment in a variety of physical activities and games.

During Year 3 and 4 students practise and refine fundamental movement skills in different movement situations, further develop their game sense, teamwork and apply basic rules and scoring systems, and demonstrate fair play when participating in structured games.

Our Year 5-6 students practise specialised movement skills and apply them in different movement situations in indoor, outdoor and aquatic settings and participate in physical activities designed to enhance fitness.  They discuss the impact of regular participation on health and wellbeing.

The sports program enables students to participate in a wide range of sports from lawn bowls and tennis to netball and hockey.  They develop sport specific skills and techniques and learn about equipment, rules and etiquettes of each sport, along with team work and sportsmanship.

Skills which are developed over each year of schooling culminate with students participating in Inter-school sport in Year 5 and 6. Students compete against other schools at an inter-school level in a range of sports including netball, football, soccer, cricket and t-ball.  Our students also have the opportunity to be involved in teams for lawn bowls, Hockey 7s and swimming, and represent themselves and the school at a district level in cross country, athletics and swimming.

All students from Foundation to Year 6 participate in our school Athletics Carnival and Cross Country event, along with an intensive Swimming Program over 4 weeks which concludes with a fun Aquatics Day.  Our Year 5-6 students also have the opportunity to participate in windsurfing.

Expert coaching programs and equipment from external coaches or organisations such as:

• Hook into Hockey
• Touch Rugby
• Hot Shots Tennis
• Milo Cricket
• Bike Ed
• Lawn Bowls

The majority of the Health component which supports students to develop knowledge, understanding and skills about themselves, and build relationships with others is supported by classroom teachers through weekly timetabled health and well-being lessons. The curriculum taught supports our students to be resilient, and to make decisions and take actions to promote their health, safety and physical activity participation.

In supporting our student’s health they participate in

• Life Ed Van programs
• St. Johns Ambulance First Aid Training
• Respectful Relationships
• Preparation for Puberty